Julie Rost loved her childhood growing, learning and playing in Fox Chapel so much that she never left.
The Pittsburgh native is a nationally recognized top-selling Realtor in the Pittsburgh region with a focus on the Fox Chapel and East End communities.
Raising her three “almost empty nest” children in the borough and owning and managing her own real estate business, the Julie Rost Team of Berkshire Hathaway, The Preferred Realty, keeps Rost busy.
The Julie Rost Team logged $70 million in sales and completed more than 100 transactions last year.
For Rost, growing up playing in the woods and creeks of Fox Chapel holds fond memories, as does her memories spent as the only daughter to her first influential real estate role model — her mother.
Bunny Wolff, formerly of Fox Chapel and now residing in Harmar, sold real estate for 50 years in the greater Fox Chapel area.
Wolff recalled popping her only daughter in the car alongside her during a pre-cellphone, pre-GPS era.
”She would come with me in the car as I would preview houses. I would get a map out and off we would go,” Wolff said.
Wolff added the realtor world had some of the same challenges when Rost obtained her real estate license in 2003.
“I told her the hours are very long and nobody knows it until you do it,” Wolff said.
Rost said being a Fox Chapel local is a work perk.
“I feel like people are surprised at just how much I know as we drive the streets,” Rost said. “From where the bus stops are, to knowing where the closest grocery store and all the winding roads of the areas, it’s helpful to prospective buyers.”
“It’s just been a great place to start and raise a family,” Rost said as she approaches the empty nester years.
A Shady Side Academy alumnus, Rost lived the first three years of her life in Aspinwall before her family moved to Fox Chapel.
Rost forged ahead anyway and said the rewards of owning her own real estate firm are great.
Wolfe praised her daughter’s perseverance and professionalism.
“She is very tenacious and a very hard worker, always has been, and she’s got people skills and she’s very thorough,” Wolfe said.
Rost, 53, earned a bachelor of arts degree from Colgate University and a master of science from Duquesne University. She worked for more than a decade in the corporate marketing field.
Rost has received numerous industry awards, including the 2024 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chairman’s Circle Award for being a No. 1 top agent in the franchise.
She’s a member of the Realtors Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors.
Specializing in luxury properties in the East End and Fox Chapel communities, Rost is keen on helping first-time buyers and clients who are relocating.
Rost assembled an all-female agent team of six.
“A lot of people are doing realty as a part-time job and this is truly a career for me, and that is different,” Rost said. “It didn’t start out that way intentionally, all female, but it is that way now and we tend to embrace that.”
Rost Team marketing manager Sarah Stallings of Fox Chapel went to Shady Side Academy with Rost and said working with the team is collaborative.
“Julie is the most knowledgeable and thorough Realtor that I’ve been around and she is so supportive of her team. She has built this amazing group of women with a lot of knowledge being transferred with each other and the sharing of resources,” Stallings said. “She’s meticulous.”
Maintaining her Fox Chapel area roots has paid off professionally for Rost.
“My business launched by gaining the trust of my friends and my earliest transactions were friends and I’ve had the benefit of growing a sphere of influence and referral base,” said Rost, adding she prioritizes her attention to detail, time management and kindness.
When Rost isn’t selling real estate, she enjoys running, skiing, traveling, flower gardening and spending time with her family.